The assassin on the roof
by Lostopium
Summary: Cendre (OC) has been hired to assassinate Fahrenheit but... someone with a better deal comes stop them.


"Really, I feel like i'm losing my mind! No matter how hard the boys and I look, it's like we're chasing a ghost! But, I swear there was definitely someone last time! I wasn't the only one who saw that fucking shadow moving along the rooftops!" Fahrenheit exclaimed as she crossed her arms.

For several days now, the mayor's bodyguard felt like she was being followed and watched by someone or something. She didn't pay it much attention at first, but now this feeling of a mysterious presence was becoming harder and harder to dismiss as something as silly as just a nagging feeling. All members of the Neighborhood Watch were notified about it and watched for the slightest movement in the shadows, but their efforts always proved to be in vain. Most were beginning to wonder if their leader had become paranoid. The constant insistence of something they could never prove was beginning to take a toll on the woman and her credibility.

"Sounds like someone's got herself a secret admirer," offered Hancock, clearly amused at her frustration. The mayor of Goodneighbor was fully aware of this case, however, it was impossible for Fahrenheit to know if he was taking her seriously or not. She scowled at him.

"Are you kidding me?! I give to you my concerns and all you do is watch me investigate all on my own and then laugh in my face?!"

"Naaah, I'm not laughing in your face. I only sai-"

"You're not taking this seriously, Hancock! This is really freaking me out! Can you put down the Jet for two seconds and listen to me?!" She was trying, and failing, to hold back her anger.

"But I am listening, Fahrenheit. You said that you let all the Neighborhood Watch in on this and nobody's found anything, right?" he replied with a shrug. "I don't know what more can be done for the moment other than waiting for whatever it is to show up and leave some kind of clue. And there…"

The mayor didn't get to finish his thought as an unexpected flash of light caught his eye. He turned his head towards the window, ignoring Fahrenheit's impatient rebuttal. There he squinted and gasped. There was no doubt about it. There was an unusual twinkle from the roof of the building facing the Old State House.

The ghoul slowly turned towards the young woman and calmly spoke, "I want you to keep calm and go sit on that chair over there. And, whatever you do, do not go anywhere near that window. I'll be right back." He stood up, his face shifted into a neutral expression, and left the room without giving any other explanation to his bodyguard.

The sniper grumbled when they watched their target move out of sight and not return. They didn't have time to dwell on that misfortune as their companion, a dog named Mardi-Gras, started to growl. The assassin left their sniping position, grabbed their revolver, and pointed it at the door behind them as it opened.

"Good eeeevening," greeted Hancock, his double-barrel shotgun in his hands, ready to fire, "am I interrupting anything?"

The assassin certainly hadn't planned to face the mayor in person, at least, not so soon… and certainly not as the one being ambushed. They cursed themselves internally and, with their eyes fixed onto him, they gave an order to the dog to calm down. The animal stayed back but remained on the defensive, her owner still in danger. The dog's owner was surprisingly another ghoul, shorter and also younger than Hancock obviously. They gave a warning to the man facing them.

"Don't come any closer. It would be a shame to paint your nice shirt with your insides…"

"Yeah, and I suggest you give up right now. You're talking to Hancock here. In case you didn't know, I'm the mayor of Goodneighbor, and therefore I am the protector of its inhabitants. If you try to hurt even one of them, believe me, I'll take care of you myself, personally."

"Unless I kill you first." The assassin lifted their chin, staring him down.

"Oh, I'd love to see that!" Hancock replied sarcastically.

"I don't have much of a choice, do I?"

"That all depends on you, Friend," stated Hancock, his expression calm but calculating. "But the way I see it is that we can both make the choice to kill each other right here and make a nice meal for that skinny mutt of yours… or you can choose to end this and accept the possibility of my giving you a second chance. We all make mistakes. I'll be the first to admit that, thus I'm willing to forgive you. So if you just holster your gun already, perhaps we can discuss things peacefully. What do you say?"

Listening closely, and at a disadvantage, the younger ghoul slowly lowered their weapon with a bewildered look on their face before looking away. They hadn't expected to be caught off guard in the first place by him, let alone shown such generosity. The assassin opened their mouth to answer but immediately closed it, frowning. Their thoughts were running a mile a minute. They had to make a decision, fast, but which one?

Noticing the double-barrel shotgun was also lowering, the intruder felt a little more at ease and turned around, facing away from the mayor. It put them in a very vulnerable position, having a shotgun still aimed at them, but they were unable to face his look of sincerity any longer. Perhaps the elder could feel that the younger wasn't inherently bad. Either way, the assassin wasn't completely disarmed, and in a worst case scenario that the dark-eyed man betrayed them, Mardi-Gras would jump on him, fangs bared. They considered his offer for a moment while gazing at the residents passing by below. They decided to come clean and get something off if their chest.

"I've been following Fahrenheit for several days… There have been three times I could have easily killed her… Ten, if I add up all the times when I would have faced collateral damage. I was promised a very large sum for this job… so why am I hesitating?"

"Don't tell me that she'd caught your eye! I was just kidding that she'd had a secret admirer all along, haha! That would be a little too cliché, wouldn't it?"

"Huh?! W-what? No!" blurted the assassin, turning towards the mayor, both surprised and flustered. "Non, non! Not my type, not at all! If I had a type at all… No, attraction has nothing to do with it…"

The assassin paused for a moment, refocusing their attention back on the city below before starting again.

"Goodneighbor seems like a nice place. Not perfect, of course, but at least being a ghoul isn't a problem. I admit it's rather appealing. Having a home, a job, the protection of an influential mayor, in addition to have the right to be who we are without being persecuted… And then there's Fahrenheit. I must confess, I wasn't expecting that…"

"What do you mean?" Hancock inquired, approaching slowly. He looked relaxed, at first glance, but the way he was carrying his gun was a good indicator that he didn't trust the assassin enough just yet. No doubt, if he had to, he would shoot the other before they had the chance to draw.

"I had met with her once before, in order to obtain any helpful information on my target. I'm an assassin, not a two-bit assassin. Anyway, I was quite surprised by her behavior. No scream, no slur, not even looking at me rudely. She treated me as if… I were a person. Rather rare coming from a human, right? She was friendly and from what I heard, she's that way with most ghouls in addition to being … well… you're bodyguard. And even more surprising…She… kind of invited me live here. In Goodneighbor."

They turned back to face the mayor again and quickly looked him up and down, rather surprised by his sudden close proximity. Obviously he'd stepped forward while they weren't looking, but they overlooked it for now, as he had no reason to trust the young ghoul just yet. They couldn't really blame him for that. The intruder didn't know why, as this wasn't at all how they had planned out this day, but they felt like the only goal now was to gain Hancock's confidence. Sincerity seemed to be the best option available. They looked upwards to meet the mayor's gaze.

"I have killed a lot of people. You may find this terrible, but I rarely regretted those jobs. I'm quite proud of most of them, even so… with Fahrenheit… I know I'd feel remorse. I have nothing against her, nothing to fuel me to kill her! I don't… want to kill her," they trailed off, suddenly at a loss for words. Hancock seemed to be waiting for something else, so they finally asked, "What are you going to do with me now, mayor of Goodneighbor?"

"That depends on what YOU are going to do."

"If I don't kill her, my employer will not only pay someone else to do the job, but he will also send another after me… I'll also lose the pretty bundle that he promised me, which I really need."

"Oh, is that right? I think we can work this out," replied the other, a smirk tugging at his lips, "I might have a few caps lying around."

"Are you serious? You would pay me to double-cross my employer?" The young ghoul was rather surprised by this offer. They had to, nevertheless, admit that this unexpected turn of events was welcomed. Their employer was an abject and violent human and unfortunately too influential to be touched without any blowback. However, if he planned to take down one of the only cities that welcomed their kind, the assassin was ready to annihilate him, no matter the cost. Moreso if they were going to be paid for it!

"You've seem to have it all figured out, brother…sister…uh…bro…ster?"

"Just call me Cendre." They shook the hand that was offered to close the deal and left with their dog and their new job.

Several days had passed when the Neighborhood Watch was alerted by the barking and howling of a dog. When they opened the gate guarding Goodneighbor, they were astonished to find the unconscious assassin being dragged along the ground by Mardi-Gras. It was nearly impossible to know the condition they were in, since they weren't moving on their own and covered in multiple injuries, but one thing was for sure, the ghoul wouldn't last long if they didn't get help quickly!

Fahrenheit was the first to come to their rescue with a stimpack. Then, without much effort, she carried Cendre to the Old State House, followed of closely by the faithful hound. When she got to the second floor, she placed them down on one of the sofas. She treated the injured ghoul as best she could with Hancock's help, who was equally stunned, impressed and worried at the same time.

Cendre woke up slowly to find that they were comfortably resting in a semi-familiar room, surrounded by the mayor, his bodyguard and Mardi-Gras. The woman helped them to sit up on the sofa and gave them time to come to their senses. They pet their dog who greeted them with plenty of kisses.

"Holy shit! You were severely hurt! Good thing your dog was there!"

"Je… I think I killed them all but I can't be sure. I admit, I didn't have time to check each corridor. I didn't think I would get out of this alive. There might be one or two survivors, but I killed most of them, including their leader. You shouldn't have any more trouble out of them."

"Wait… You defeated a whole group of Raiders all by yourself?" Fahrenheit inquired, clearly amazed.

"All by myself? Non, Mardi-Gras was with me" they replied, petting their dog again. "I really don't know how we managed… Everything's a blur… I wasn't expecting to make it out alive."

Hancock approached, put off by the heroic yet inconsiderate gesture of the assassin. "You know you gave us a hell of a scare when you got back here barely breathing! Do you got a death wish or something? Why did you throw yourself into the lion's den if you knew you could've wound up dead?"

Cendre lowered their eyes, looking at their feet, and shrugged their shoulders. It was true, they could very well have left and abandoned their mission, leaving both groups to their conflicts. Instead, they saw it through, risking their life and Mardi-Gras' as well.

"I dunno what to say… maybe I was attracted by the shelter that Goodneighbor promised me? It was the only thing driving me… all or nothing…"

The ghoul in the tricorn started to laugh and then leaned on the back of the sofa, looking at their guest with a benevolent expression on his face.

"The city has attracted you? Good! Because I think you're earning your place here!" Cendre looked at him. No, he didn't seemed to be kidding. The young ghoul mumbled something softly but didn't have any time to finish their thought before the mayor added, "Oh! And I might have another task that's right up your alley, but take your time to settle in, alright? It's not that urgent."

"Wait, wait, wait. A-are you… Are you offering me a job?" asked the assassin, a smile awkwardly drawing on their face.

"I'm offering you a place to stay and find a job, yes. It's nothing permanent, but I'm sure you'll find someone that'll put your skills to good use at the Third Rail," he sighed and scratched his head under his hat with indifference, before looking over at Cendre. He smiled and added, "but I hope you'll be willing to come around the next time I need something taken care of?"

The younger ghoul felt their cheeks warm up and their heart race at the sight of the soft smile. Flustered, they blurted out in response without thinking, "No worries, I'll make you my top priority." This gave them a chuckle from Hancock, and another heated blush.


End file.
